Questions and negation · Hungarian grammar A1

Yes-or-no questions: Tanár vagy?#

Formation

A yes-or-no question has the words and the order of the statement; in speech the voice rises towards the end, and in writing a question mark is placed: Tanár vagy. (“You’re a teacher.”), Tanár vagy? (“Are you a teacher?”). No word is added and no word moves. The short answer is igen (yes) or nem (no), often with the verb repeated in the speaker’s person: Tanulsz? – Igen, tanulok.

Éhes vagy? – Igen.Are you hungry? – Yes.
Réka itthon van?Is Réka at home?
Dolgozol ma? – Nem, ma pihenek.Are you working today? – No, today I’m resting.
A busz Szegedre megy?Is the bus going to Szeged?

Difference from English

English forms a question with do or by moving the verb, “Are you…?”, “Do you work…?”. Hungarian adds nothing and moves nothing: Dolgozol? is Dolgozol. with a rising voice.

Common mistake

~~Igen, tanulsz.~~ → Igen, tanulok.The short answer repeats the verb in the speaker’s person.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Asking yes or no: Diák vagy? Igen. Nem.

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Saying no: nem#

Formation

Nem (not) stands right before the verb: Nem vagyok éhes, Kata nem beszél németül. In a third person sentence with no verb, it stands before the noun or the adjective: Ez nem tea, Ő nem orvos. Nem before another word denies that word alone: Nem Péter főz (“It isn’t Péter who’s cooking”), as Not this but that: nem …, hanem … sets out. Nem is also the short answer “no”.

Nem vagyok éhes.I’m not hungry.
Kata nem beszél németül.Kata doesn’t speak German.
Ez nem tea.This isn’t tea.
Ma nem dolgozunk.We’re not working today.

Difference from English

English places not after am, is or do: “I am not hungry”, “She doesn’t speak German”. Hungarian places nem before the verb and adds no word for do: Nem beszél németül.

Common mistake

~~Vagyok nem éhes.~~ → Nem vagyok éhes.Nem stands before the verb.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Saying no: nem vagyok, nem tanár

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There is not, is not there: nincs, nincsenek#

Formation

In the third person of the present, the negative of van is nincs, and the negative of vannak is nincsenek. The forms nem van and nem vannak do not exist. The other persons have nem: nem vagyok, nem vagy, nem vagyunk, nem vagytok.

Affirmative	Negative
van	nincs
vannak	nincsenek
vagyok, vagy…	nem vagyok, nem vagy…

Use

Nincs says that someone is not in a place (Zoltán nincs itt), that something does not exist (A konyhában nincs kenyér, “There’s no bread in the kitchen”) and that someone does not have something, as Having: van autóm, nincs pénzem sets out. A noun or an adjective said of the subject takes nem, since it has no van to deny: Anna nem tanár. Nincs stands alone as a short answer: Van tej? – Nincs.

Zoltán nincs itt.Zoltán isn’t here.
A gyerekek nincsenek az iskolában.The children aren’t at school.
A konyhában nincs kenyér.There’s no bread in the kitchen.

Common mistakes

~~Péter nem van otthon.~~ → Péter nincs otthon.The negative of van is nincs.
~~Anna nincs tanár.~~ → Anna nem tanár.A noun said of the subject is denied with nem.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Saying someone is not there: nincs, nincsenek

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Question words: hol, hogy, milyen, mikor, miért#

Use

A question word stands right before the verb, in the focus: Hol dolgozik Márta? The subject may follow the verb or stand before the question word: Márta hol dolgozik?

Question word	Meaning	Example
ki?	who?	Ki az?
mi?	what?	Mi ez?
hol?	where?	Hol vagy?
hova?	where to?	Hova mész?
honnan?	where from?	Honnan jössz?
mikor?	when?	Mikor jön a busz?
hogy?	how?	Hogy vagy?
milyen?	what… like?	Milyen a lakás?
miért?	why?	Miért nem eszel?

Hány?, mennyi? and melyik? are set out in How many and which: hány, mennyi, melyik.

Hol dolgozik Márta?Where does Márta work?
Mikor jön a vonat?When is the train coming?
Milyen a lakás?What’s the flat like?
Miért nem eszel?Why aren’t you eating?

Difference from English

English What is the flat like? is said with what; Hungarian has a word of its own, milyen?, and Mi a lakás? does not mean the same.

Common mistakes

~~Hol Márta dolgozik?~~ → Hol dolgozik Márta?The question word stands right before the verb. ~~Mi a lakás?~~ (for “what is it like?”) → Milyen a lakás? Milyen asks what something is like.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Asking where, how and what like: hol, hogy, milyen

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How many and which: hány, mennyi, melyik#

Use

Hány? asks how many things are counted, and the noun after it is singular, as after any number. Mennyi? asks how much there is of something that is not counted, such as water, milk, sugar or money. Melyik? asks which one out of several, and stands before its noun. Age is asked with hány éves?: Hány éves vagy? (“How old are you?”).

Hány gyerek van a kertben?How many children are there in the garden?
Mennyi víz van az üvegben?How much water is there in the bottle?
Melyik étterem olcsó?Which restaurant is cheap?
Hány éves vagy?How old are you?

Common mistakes

~~Hány gyerekek?~~ → Hány gyerek?After hány, the noun is singular.
~~Hány víz?~~ → Mennyi víz?Water is not counted, so it takes mennyi.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Asking how many and which: hány, mennyi, melyik

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The focus before the verb: Egerben lakom#

Use

The new information of an answer stands right before the verb, in the place of the question word: Hol laksz? – Egerben lakom. The same place serves to stress a word or to contrast it with another: Tamás főz (“It’s Tamás who’s cooking”). A sentence with no stressed word has the subject first and the verb after it: Tamás főz may also be the plain “Tamás is cooking”.

Hol laksz? – Egerben lakom.Where do you live? – I live in Eger.
Ki főz ma? – Tamás főz.Who’s cooking today? – Tamás is.
Mikor jössz? – Este jövök.When are you coming? – In the evening.
Mit iszol? – Teát iszom.What are you drinking? – Tea.

Difference from English

In English a word is stressed with the voice or with it is … who, and the order subject, verb, object does not change. Hungarian places the stressed word before the verb: Egerben lakom, word for word “in Eger I live”.

Common mistake

~~Lakom Egerben.~~ (as an answer to Hol laksz?) → Egerben lakom. The answer to a question word stands before the verb.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Answering before the verb: Győrben tanulok

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Too and not either: is, sem#

Use

Is (too, also) follows the word it refers to: Én is éhes vagyok (“I’m hungry too”). Sem (not either) follows the word it refers to in a negative sentence and is used instead of nem: Kata sem dolgozik (“Kata isn’t working either”). Sem is already negative, and nem is not added before the verb.

Én is éhes vagyok.I’m hungry too.
Péter is jön?Is Péter coming too?
Én sem beszélek németül.I don’t speak German either.
Ma Kata sem dolgozik.Kata isn’t working today either.

Difference from English

English too comes at the end of the sentence and not … either is two words; Hungarian has one word right after the word it refers to: Én is, Én sem.

Common mistakes

~~Én is nem dolgozom.~~ → Én sem dolgozom.In a negative sentence, too is sem.
~~Én sem nem dolgozom.~~ → Én sem dolgozom.Sem is used instead of nem.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Saying too and not either: is, sem

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And, but, or, because: és, de, vagy, mert#

Use

És (and) joins two words or two sentences; de (but) joins two contrasting sentences; vagy (or) gives a choice; mert (because) gives a reason, and answers miért? (why?). Between two words no comma is written: kenyér és sajt. Two sentences are separated by a comma before the joining word: Kicsi a szoba, de világos. The conjunction vagy (or) has the same form as vagy (you are); the sentence shows which is meant.

Kávét vagy teát kérsz?Would you like coffee or tea?
Kicsi a lakás, de szép.The flat is small, but nice.
Otthon maradok, mert fáradt vagyok.I’m staying at home because I’m tired.
Kenyér és sajt van a konyhában.There’s bread and cheese in the kitchen.

Common mistake

~~Otthon maradok mert fáradt vagyok.~~ → Otthon maradok, mert fáradt vagyok.A comma stands before mert joining two sentences.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Joining and giving reasons: és, de, vagy, mert, miért

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Not this but that: nem …, hanem …#

Use

Nem before a word denies that word, and hanem introduces the word that replaces it, after a comma: Nem Győrben lakom, hanem Sopronban. The denied word stands in the focus, right before the verb. Hanem corrects what is denied; de adds a contrast to what is true.

Nem Győrben lakom, hanem Sopronban.I don’t live in Győr, but in Sopron.
Nem Tamás főz, hanem Réka.It isn’t Tamás who’s cooking, it’s Réka.
Nem busszal megyünk, hanem vonattal.We’re not going by bus but by train.

Difference from English

English has but in both “not tea but coffee” and “small but nice”; Hungarian has hanem after a denied word and de elsewhere.

Common mistake

~~Nem Győrben lakom, de Sopronban.~~ → Nem Győrben lakom, hanem Sopronban.After a denied word, the correction takes hanem.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Correcting with nem, hanem: Nem sört, hanem bort

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Somebody and nobody: valaki, valami, senki, semmi#

Use

Valaki (somebody) and valami (something) are used in a statement or a question. Senki (nobody) and semmi (nothing) are used with nem, nincs or sem in the same sentence: Nincs itt senki (“There’s nobody here”), Senki nem jön (“Nobody is coming”). As an object they take -t: valakit, valamit, senkit, semmit.

Valaki jön.Someone is coming.
Kérsz valamit?Would you like something?
Nem hallok semmit.I can’t hear anything.
Nincs semmi a táskában.There’s nothing in the bag.

Difference from English

English has one negative word in a sentence, “I see nobody” or “I don’t see anybody”. Hungarian has two, nem and senki: Nem látok senkit.

Common mistakes

~~Senkit látok.~~ → Nem látok senkit.Senki is used with nem before the verb.
~~Van itt senki?~~ → Van itt valaki?A question takes valaki.

In short

Point	Form	Example
a yes-or-no question	the statement with a rising voice	Tanár vagy?
not	nem before the verb	Nem vagyok éhes.
is not, there is no	nincs, nincsenek	Zoltán nincs itt.
question words	right before the verb	Hol dolgozik Márta?
how many, how much, which	hány + singular, mennyi, melyik	Hány gyerek?
the focus	the new information before the verb	Egerben lakom.
too, not either	is, sem after the word	Én is. Én sem.
and, but, or, because	és, de, vagy, mert	Kicsi, de szép.
not this but that	nem …, hanem …	Nem Győrben, hanem Sopronban.
somebody, nobody	valaki, valami; senki, semmi with nem	Nincs itt senki.

Practise

“Questions and negation: nem, nincs, is, sem and the place before the verb”, Nobody and nothing: valaki, valami, senki, semmi

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